Junkyard

Last week, Brian and I went to a few car junkyards to look around. I took over 200 pictures, and have just begun a painting series based on a small selection of them. I will not include those here– hopefully, you will see them for the first time as paintings. But here are some things that I liked about the junkyard:

I liked how the plants interact with the machinery; sometimes whole trees are growing up from the engine, sometimes you cannot tell where one begins and another ends.

I liked the way that the guts of the car really does look like that– guts, internal organs, a heart or lungs or something to that effect.

I like the way the light comes through the car guts, the negative space created by strong white light.

I liked fans and co-centric circles.

I liked the vague sense of violence and tragedy, somewhat sterilized by the lot setting, by the casual way that the employees and the patrons take these wrecks for granted. “I see it a little bit differently,” said Tony, as he walked us around his lot, “I see a wreck like this one and I think, ‘well, it’s still got a pretty good bumper or left headlight…’” Still, he took note of some of the more disturbing situations, like this one:

This car had been totally flattened, wrapped around what looks like it could have been a telephone pole. Tony said things like, “Let’s hope there was no one in the passenger seat,” when he showed us these cars, but I could not help but think of each of these dazzling disasters, so far removed from the scene of the accident, from the actual people affected by them, as some oddly beautiful, sculptural document of the destruction. In some sick way, I almost delighted to think that there was some great loss associated with a wreck like this. It gave its existence real gravity.

There were some great things happening with rust and color, the best of which I will save for the paintings. All in all, it was a good little field trip…

Now I am painting them, continually frustrated with my inabilities, but excited for the challenge. I am trying to pay great attention to detail, for the sheer density of things going on in such small areas are exactly what attracted me to some of these scenes, but I am also trying not to get too bogged down in any one spot. It is a delicate balance. I wish I were a better painter, but I suppose this is how you make yourself into one. For kicks, I’ll include the first image that I am working on…I have been looking at it all day, so perhaps you should too: